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As part of a plea deal, Deborah Buckley admitted taking part in a scheme that included her son, Hassan El Saddique, and more than $5,000 in fraudulent invoices financing his job as a computer consultant with the Buffalo school district. (Buffalo News file photo)

School official who stole anti-poverty funds gets probation

The former assistant school superintendent who admitted stealing from an anti-poverty program she oversaw was sentenced to two years probation.

As part of a plea deal, Buckley, 56, admitted taking part in a scheme that included her son, Hassan El Saddique, and involved fraudulent invoices that financed his job as a computer consultant with the Buffalo school district.

"I just ask for forgiveness from those I've harmed," Buckley told U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny.

Buckley was facing a recommended sentence of up to a year in prison, but Skretny pointed to her "genuine remorse" and her repayment of the $15,120 she stole in granting her request for leniency.

El Saddique, who also was charged in the scheme, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge and received a year of probation.

From Day One, the prosecution centered on Buckley and the allegation that she stole from a federally funded program intended to help low-income students and that she oversaw as assistant superintendent.

Investigators say the amount Buckley and her son stole - $15,120 - is relatively small in comparison to the overall size of the anti-poverty program, but suggested the thefts are symbolic of a bigger problem.

The prosecution also is seen by parent activists and other critics as evidence of a school district that was late discovering the thefts and, when it did, looked the other way.

For a year and a half, Buckley served as an assistant superintendent in the Buffalo district, overseeing more than $100 million a year in federal grants. That ended in September 2011, when she was escorted out of her City Hall office and placed on paid leave. She was eventually fired.